Art in Paris

Art in Paris is an article on the artculture and history inParis, the capital of France. For centuries, Paris has attracted artists from around the world, arriving in the city to educate themselves and to seek inspiration from its artistic resources and galleries. As a result, Paris has acquired a reputation as the "City of Art".[1] Home to some of the world's most famous museums and galleries, including the Louvre and the Musée d'Orsay, the city today remains home to a thriving community of artists. Paris is recognized globally for its public landmarks and masterpieces of architecture including the Arc de Triomphe and a symbol of France, the Eiffel Tower.

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Prior to the 12th century, Paris was not yet famed for its art.[2] Italian artists were a profound influence on the development of art in Paris in the 16th and 17th centuries, particularly in sculpture and reliefs. Painting and sculpture became the pride of the French monarchy and the French royals commissioned many Parisian artists to adorn their palaces during the French Baroque and Classicism era. Sculptors such as Girardon, Coysevox and Coustou acquired a reputation for being the finest artists in the royal court in 17th century France. Pierre Mignard became first painter to the king during this period. In this medieval era, depictions of the Virgin Madonna and her Blessed Child were common, and were written to have shown Paris a "protective presence". They were frequently damaged, most of the time intentionally. One source states that one vandalised depiction preternaturally oozed out blood.[3]

Paris was in its artistic prime in the 19th century and early 20th century, when Paris had a colony of artists established in the city, with art schools associated with some of the finest painters of the times. The French Revolution and political and social change in France had a profound influence on art in the capital. Many painters moved towards using vibrant colours and elements of fantasy in their paintings, and Paris was central to the development of Romanticism in art, with painters such as Géricault.[4]

The Louvre is the world's largest and most famous museum,[12][13] housing many works of art, including the Mona Lisa (La Joconde) and the Venus de Milo statue.[14] Known as the Great Louvre, it is the national museum and art gallery of France. Francis I ( a connoisseur of Art), initially started building the Louvre as part of the royal palace erected at a location where a 12th-century fortress of Philip Augustus existed. The palace underwent several additions over the centuries. Finally, after the court moved to Versailles in 1682, a proposal to convert the Louvre into a public museum was mooted in the 18th century, and in 1793 Musée Central des Arts in the Grande Galerie was opened to the public. Under Napoleon III, Louvre was further enlarged, and as completed, it has two main quadrilaterals and within two large courtyards. It is considered to possess one of the richest art collections in the world. Its collection is now mainly European art up to the Revolutions of 1848 as paintings of later date have been moved to the Orsay Museum that opened in 1986. Some of the master pieces held by the museum are of the Italian Renaissance painters, and Flemish and Dutch painters of the Baroque period.[15] Some other notable galleries in the Louvre are the department of Egyptian antiquities (collection from 1826) and the Mesopotamian art (in the Near Eastern antiquities gallery).[15]

Works by Pablo Picasso and Auguste Rodin are found in the Musée Picasso[16] and the Musée Rodin[17] respectively. The Picasso museum, which was renovated in 2013, is housed in the Hôtel Salé, a mid nineteenth century edifice. It has a rich collection of 3500 drawings, engravings, paintings, ceramic works and sculptures by Pablo Picasso (1881–1973). It was gifted to the government by the kin of Picasso as compensation for the estate tax (droits de succession).[18]
The museum which was renovated in 2013 housed in the Hôtel Salé, a mid nineteenth century edifice has a rich collection of 3500 drawings, engravings, paintings, ceramic works and sculptures by the grand maître (great master) Pablo Picasso (1881–1973). It was gifted to the government by the kin of Picasso as compensation for the inheritance tax.

Paris's newest (and third-largest) museum, the Musée du quai Branly, opened its doors in June 2006 and houses art from Africa, Asia, Oceania, and the Americas, including many from Mesoamerican cultures. In 1998, under the same French president Jacques Chirac, Maison de la Culture du Japon has opened offices near Eiffel Tower. This place show various exhibits on Japanese Art and Culture in Paris. Few art galleries have developed around those places. 7th district have been in recent years active location for new museums development.[21]

The Orsey Museum is located in a refurbished former Orsay Railway Station (Gare d'Orsay), a large building in the Beaux Arts architectural style, on the left bank of the Seine River. The museum was opened in 1986 and has exhibits of French painting, sculpture, photography, and decorative arts of the mid and late 19th century; French academic painting and sculpture of the 19th century are by many artist "of the late Romantic and Neoclassical, Realist, Barbizon, Impressionist, Post-Impressionist, Divisionist, and Nabi schools."[22]

Many of Paris's once-popular local establishments have come to cater to the tastes and expectations of tourists, rather than local patrons, such as Le Lido on the Avenue Champs-Élysées, among others.[26] The Moulin Rouge cabaret-dancehall, for example, is a staged dinner theatre spectacle, a dance display that was once but one aspect of the cabaret's former atmosphere. All of the establishment's former social or cultural elements, such as its ballrooms and gardens, are gone today.[27]

Like painting and sculpture, Paris has also attracted communities of photographers, and was an important centre for the development of photography; indeed inventor Nicephore Niepce produced the first permanent photograph on a polished pewter plate in Paris in 1825, and then developed the process with Louis Daguerre.[4] Paris become the home of a form of photography, Surrealist photography.[29] Numerous photographers achieved renown for their photography of Paris, including Eugene Atget, noted for his depictions of street scenes, Robert Doisneau, noted for his playful pictures of people and market scenes, Marcel Bovis, noted for his night scenes, and others such as Jacques-Henri Lartigue and Cartier-Bresson.[4] Paris also become the hotbed for an emerging art form in the late 19th century, poster art, advocated by the likes of Gavarni.[4]

The leading French art fair, Foire internationale d'art contemporain (FIAC), is a manifestation of contemporary art that has taken place every year since 1974 in October in Paris. For several days, this exhibition becomes the international meeting place between galleries, collectors, curators, museum directors and personalities from around the world.[30] Another annual art event held in Paris is the Art Paris Art Fair. During 2013, the fair attracted more visitors than in the previous year, when 1500 artists (43% from foreign countries) participated. The fair had 57% of French galleries and 52% new galleries. The event for 2014 is proposed to be held from 27–30 March 2014 at the Grand Palais, with 144 international galleries likely to be on display. The theme proposed is modern and contemporary art including photography, design and art books.[31]